THIS trade, as regards a street-sale, has only been known for or years, and had its origination in the exertions of Mr. Hume, M.P., to secure to persons visiting the national exhibitions the advantage of a cheap catalogue. The guide-books were only sold, prior to this time, any public exhibition; and the profits—as is the case at present—were the perquisite of some official. When the sale was a monopoly, the profit must have been considerable, as the price was seldom less than , and frequently The guide-books, or, as they are more frequently called, catalogues, are now sold by men who stand at the entrance, the approaches, at a little distance on the line, or at the corners of the adjacent streets, at the following places:—the , the Vernon Gallery, the , , the , the Society of Arts (occasionally), the Art-Union (when open "free"), Greenwich Hospital, the Dulwich Gallery, , Windsor Castle, and Kew Gardens.

At any temporary exhibition, also, the same trade is carried on—as it was largely when the "designs," &c., for the decoration of the New Houses of Parliament were exhibited in Hall. There are, of course, very many other catalogues, or explanatory guides, sold to the visitors of other exhibitions, but I speak only of the -sale.

There are now, at the , guidebook-sellers plying their trade in the streets; at the ; at ; at the , but only on Saturdays, when the House is shown, by orders obtained gratuitously at the Lord Chamberlain's office, or "when appeals are on;" at the Vernon Gallery; at Dulwich (but not regularly, as there are none at present), at , " near each gate;" and , and sometimes , at Windsor (generally sent out by a shopkeeper there). There used to be at the Thames Tunnel, but "it grew so bad at last," I was told, "that a rat couldn't have picked up his grub at it—let alone a man."

Among all these sellers I heard statements of earning a most wretched pittance, and all attributed it to the same cause. By the is a board, on which is an announcement that the only authorized catalogue of the works of art can be obtained in the hall. There are similar announcements at other public places. man who had been in this street trade, but had abandoned it, spoke of these "boards," as he called them, with intense bitterness. "They're the ruin of any trade in the streets," he said. "You needn't think because I'm out of it now, that I have a pleasure in abusing the regulations; no, sir, I look at it this way. Mr. Hume had trouble enough, I know, to get the public a cheap catalogue, and poor men were allowed to earn honest bread by selling them in the streets, and honest bread they would earn still, if it weren't for the board. I declare solemnly a man can't

I have no doubt that this representation and this opinion would have been echoed by the street catalogue-sellers, but they were evidently unwilling to converse freely on this branch of the subject, knowing the object for which I questioned them, and that publicity would follow. I attribute this reluctance chiefly to the fact that, all these poor men look forward to the opening of the Great Exhibition with earnest hope and anxiety that the influx of visiters will add greatly to their sale and profits; and they are unwilling to jeopardise their privilege of sale.

man told me that he believed, from his own knowledge, for he had not always "sold outside," that the largest buyers of these publications were country people, sight-seeing in London, for they bought the book not only as an explanatory guide, but to preserve as a memento of their visit. Such customers, however, I heard from several quarters, the moment they saw a "notice" as to the only authorised copy, looked upon the street-sellers as a systematised portion of the London sharpers, seeking whom they might devour, and so bought their catalogues "within."

The best customers in the streets for the catalogues are, I am assured, the working-classes, who visit the national exhibitions on a holiday. "I've oft enough heard them say," man stated, "'I'd rather pay a poor man any day, when I can spare it, than rich people I know what it is to fight for a crust.'"

At the , the street-sold catalogues are , , and ; in the hall, the authorised copy is sold at and At the , the street-charges are and ; there were catalogues of this institution, but they have been discontinued for the last half-year, being found too meagre. At the Vernon Gallery, the charge is ; but the guide-book to the contains also an account of the pictures in the Vernon Gallery. At the price is , and the same at the . At Hampton-court it is , , and , and at the same rate as regards the other places mentioned. At Hampton-court, I was told, the street-sellers were not allowed to approach the palace nearer than a certain space. man told me that he was threatened with being "had in for trespassing, and Mr. G——would make him wheel a roller. Of course," the man continued, "there's an authorised catalogue there."

The best sale of catalogues in the streets was at the exhibition of the works of art for the Houses of Parliament. The sellers, then— about in number, among whom were women—cleared and each daily. At present, I am assured, that a good week is considered in which is made, but that is more frequently the weekly earning. It must be borne in mind, that at the places most resorted to—the and the British Museum—the street sale is only for days in the week at the mentioned, and days at the . "You may think that more is made," said man, "but it isn't. Sweeping a good crossing is far better, far. Bless your soul, only stand a few minutes looking on, any day, and see what numbers and numbers of people pass in and out of a free admission place without ever laying out Why, only last Monday and Wednesday ( and , both very rainy days) I took only I didn't more than , and I leave you to judge the living I shall out of that; and I know that the man with the catalogue at another place, didn't take It's sad work, sir, as you stand in the wet and cold, with no dinner for yourself, and no great hope of taking home to your family."

These street-sellers contrive, whenever they can, to mix up other avocations with catalogue selling, as the public institutions close early. , on every occasion, sells editions of the newspapers; another has "odd turns at portering;" a sells old umbrellas in the streets; some sold exhibition cards in the Park, on Sundays, until the sale was stopped; another sells a little stationery; and nearly the whole of them resort, on favourable opportunities, to the sale of "books of the play," or of "the opera."

Reckoning that there are regularly street-sellers of guide-books—they do not interfere with each other's stations—and that each clears weekly, we find expended in this street traffic. I have calculated only on the usual bookseller's allowance of per cent.,

The greatest number of these guide-books which I heard of as having been sold, in any day, was dozen, disposed of on a fine Whit-Monday, and for these the street-seller only took There are, I was informed, half as many more "threepennies" as "sixpennies" sold, and times as many "pennies" as the other together.

The capital required to start is what may suffice to "lay in" a stock of books— generally.